


Prompt: I could give you a massage

by LoveIsNotAVictoryMarch



Series: Tumblr Stuff [13]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angsty Schmoop, Canon Universe, Coda, Episode: s13e05 Advanced Thanatology, Fluff, M/M, Massage, POV Dean Winchester, Post-Episode: s13e05 Advanced Thanatology, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 14:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12683832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveIsNotAVictoryMarch/pseuds/LoveIsNotAVictoryMarch
Summary: Written for a tumblr prompt. Set after 13x05.





	Prompt: I could give you a massage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mariesondetre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariesondetre/gifts).



The door to their hotel room falls shut with a soft sound, not the angry creak or whine most motel room doors make, but the solid and definitive thud of real wood. The room smells freshly laundered by the fancy air conditioning and the expensive washing detergent. Cas sits down on one of the two beds while Dean walks around the room and picks up random pieces from the welcome basket on the table.

Sam had found the four star hotel on his phone and booked two rooms before Dean could protest. Their founds were low as it were but he can’t bring himself to question Sam’s decision when he turns around and finds Cas stroking over the rustling white linen of the sheets. Cas looks up as if he can feel Dean’s gaze.

Dean doesn’t know what happened yet and if he’s being honest he doesn’t care. Did Cas make a deal? Did Chuck interfere? Is this Billie’s doing to get him back on track for that ominous task he’s needed for? What does it matter in the end? They’re here and Cas is alive and he’ll take the wins however they come to pass.

Cas watches him silently and lets his eyes wander over Dean’s face – no doubt he sees the lines of fatigue and the remnants of too much booze and not enough sleep there – and Dean has to look away, but doesn’t turn away – let Cas look his fill, he owes him that.

A few feet separate them. Dean shifts from one foot to the other. His finger tingle with the need to have Cas close again, but their hug is over and they are back to that safe distance that feels like a solid wall at times, a moat full of snakes at others. 

“You must be tired,” Dean croaks and clears his throat before he meets Cas’ eyes again.

“I am.” Cas shucks the new trench from his shoulders and moves them as if they hurt. “It’s been a long … how long have I been gone?”

“34 days,” Dean says without thinking, and something flickers in Cas’ eyes, too fast to put a name on it.

Dean takes a step closer. His hands twitch by his sides and he clenches them to make it stop, curls his fingers in until the nails dig into his palms. Cas shoulders move again. Dean takes another step, mind frantically searching for a good reason to sit down next to Cas and hug him again, to feel him warm and alive under his hands.

“You hurt?” His voice is low and rough, and the question hangs in the air for long moments.

“My back feels strange. I’m not sure why. It’s like …” He trails off and catches Dean’s gaze again with a smirk and a sigh. “Yes, it hurts.”

“Do you… well … I mean … I could give a massage?” The words are out before Dean can shut his teeth, bite them off, trap them inside. Panic bubbles up from somewhere deep inside but he shoves it away when Cas doesn’t flinch or say no or laugh, when Cas just watches him with tired and … hopeful eyes, and nods.

“Okay,” Cas rumbles, and damn, it’s so good to hear it again, that slightly hesitant agreement to anything Dean throws at him, that says _I’m not sure this is a good plan, but I trust you_ , so Dean ignores the furious blush that creeps up his neck and sets his face on fire.

“Alright then.” Dean turns and slips out of his jacket, rolls up his sleeves and digs into the basket for the scented oil he saw before. When he turns back around, Cas has lost his shirt and sits there, hands open on his knees and Dean can see them trembling just the tiniest bit. So we’re both out of our depth here, he thinks, and somehow that gives him the resolve to see this carried through.

He debates asking Cas to lay down, but decides against it, so he sits down behind Cas and watches his strong back as Cas breathes in and out, as his chest expands and deflates, and his skin moves over his ribs and his shoulder blades.

Dean has seen him with his shirt off before, has patched him up a dozen times, seen him fresh from the shower with just a towel around his hips, held him when he had been half-dead. This is something else, though, and they both know it. Cas’ skin looks soft and tan, although there’s a line on his neck that marks the end of his collar.

Dean coats his hands with the lemon scented oil and puts them on Cas’ shoulders, marvels at the instant warmth that spreads under his palms. Cas sighs as if Dean took a weight from him. Dean strokes his palms over the curve of Cas’ back, spreads his fingers over his ribs just to feel him breathing, and the small hitch on the next inhale makes his heart thunder in his chest.

Remembering what he came here to do, he starts digging his fingers into the muscle along Cas’ spine and moves up again to reach his shoulders. Cas moans softly when Dean kneads the knots he finds there. As Cas slowly relaxes under his ministrations, Dean feels the knot inside chest loosen, too.

“I thought I lost you for good,” he murmurs, haltingly. “I … we burned you, and I was sure I had lost you.” It’s easier to find the words when Cas doesn’t look at him. He tells him about Jack, about Mary, and finally, about his conversation with Billie. He leaves the part where he was ready to die for good out, though. Cas found his way back, and Dean feels selfish all of a sudden for not fighting harder.

Cas listens and stays quiet aside from low hums and his steady breathing.

“I… it’s good to have you back,” Dean says in the end, hears his voice break around the words that fall so short in contrast to everything he’s feeling right now, and with a start he realizes he’s crying, has been crying for a while. His hands still on Cas’ shoulders, and Cas reaches up to cover his right hand with his own. A sob breaks free from Dean then and he leans forward until his forehead touches Cas’ neck.

They stay like this while Dean spills all the tears he held inside for 34 days. And then Cas turns and wraps his arms around him, and Dean doesn’t protest as they lie back onto the brisk sheets. He falls asleep surrounded by the scent of fresh linen, lemon and thunderstorms.

###

Dean wakes up in the middle of the night, disoriented and strangely warm. Reaching out, his fingertips find soft feathers, spreading out all over him like a blanket. Without fully waking up, he buries his finger deep inside the downs and smiles as he sinks back into sleep.  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm [procasdeanating](https://procasdeanating.tumblr.com/post/167341798016/prompt-i-could-give-you-a-massage-deancas-g) on tumblr. Come say hi!


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